Teaching Search Engine Marketing Through the Google Ad Grants Program

Instructors may find it difficult to stay abreast of the rapidly changing nature of search engine marketing (SEM) and to incorporate hands-on, practical classroom experiences. One solution is Google Ad Grants, a nonprofit edition of Google AdWords that provides up to $10,000 monthly in free advertising. A quasi-experiment revealed no differences between students using Ad Grants and traditional AdWords to run campaigns. Google Ad Grants can be a relevant, experiential, and promising way to help students develop skills, while simultaneously benefiting nonprofit organizations. The authors provide guidance for obtaining a grant and offer approaches for incorporating grants into learning experiences.